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Rome police chief blames Man Utd fans for crowd trouble
ROME (AFP) - Rome's police chief Achille Serra said on Friday that Manchester United fans were to blame for the violence that marred the Champions League match between the English Premiership club and Roma.
United and Roma fans were involved in fighting outside the Olympic Stadium before Wednesday's quarter-final, first leg, while riot police used batons to subdue visiting supporters when fresh disturbances erupted inside the ground.
The ugly skirmishes left 25 people injured, 14 from England and 11 Italian, of which seven were police officers.
European football's governing body, UEFA, has launched an inquiry into the crowd violence and are expected to make a decision next week as to whether the clubs will face disciplinary charges.
British politicians and Manchester United chiefs have accused Italian police of using excessive force on the English fans, but Serra believes the actions of his officers were justified.
"At the moment when Roma scored the first goal (in the 44th minute) between 100 and 200 drunk Manchester supporters moved towards the glass barrier seperating the stands," Serra told a news conference which included the screening of a seven-minute video of the violence.
He continued: "On the other side Roma hooligans were doing the same thing.
"But while officials managed to stop the Roma fans' advance they were completely swamped by the English and it's because of that that it was necessary for the police to intervene."
Visibly irritated by criticism of his men he added: "The police found themselves right up against the barrier leaving it impossible for them to retreat and you can clearly see one hooligan who was inciting the others to attack.
"Then batons were used in a bid to disperse them as you wouldn't think about tackling maniacs with flowers."
He then turned to the question of why police officers were only positioned on the United supporters' side of the barrier, explaining that they were always stationed with the visiting fans "to defend or contain them".
"It's always like that, whether it be Chievo Verona, Palermo, Valence or Manchester," he stressed.
Serra believes United's warning to their travelling fans about the potential dangers in Rome - posted on the club's website several days before the match - created unnecessary tension.
"Manchester United's warning left me worried and it wasn't something I had expected," he said.
"Rome is one of the safest capital cities in the world. Their warning could have been taken as a form of provocation for some hot-headed Roma fans."
English fans were in the spotlight again on Thursday after Tottenham Hotspur fans fought with Spanish police during their UEFA Cup match against Sevilla.
Three fans of English Premiership side Middlesbrough were stabbed in Rome last year when rival fans clashed before a UEFA Cup match.
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